Jonathan Park

Other Events and Attributes:

• MILF: Y
• Occupation: Farmer, minister
• Religion: Became a member of the Christian Church in 1843
• PURC: Aft 1853, Dale Twp., McLean Co., IL

Notes:

Ten children.

He sold his 120 acres “in 1853, and started North with his family, including his wife and six children, for the prairies of Illinois. They made the journey overland and their outfit consisted of four horses and two wagons. They carried with them their household goods and provisions, camped and cooked by the wayside, and slept in the wagons at night. After eighteen days of continuous travel they landed in McLean County. Mr. Park had visited the State the previous fall, on horseback, but had not made any purchase of land, and after his arrival here with his family they spent the winter in a house belonging to Hiram Quinn, whose name is frequently mentioned in connection with the history of the early pioneers of this county. “

Town founders from Kentucky By David Pittman, Pantagraph staff
SHIRLEY - There were few settlers around Shirley [IL] until the railroad was completed from Springfield to Bloomington and a depot built seven miles southeast of Bloomington in 1853.
The depot name - Shirley -was said to have been suggested by Mrs. Corydon Weed and taken from a novel.
The first settlers around Shirley, the Moberly, Quinn, Park, Lain and Boulware clans, all came from Kentucky.
From that group, Jonathan Park a farmer living north of Shirley, was selected as the first minister of the Christian Church in 1859.

PURC:
Eventually owned 226 acres

Buried:
Scogin Hill Cemetery

Jonathan married Barthana Quinn on 6 Oct 1836 in Madison Co., KY. Barthana was born on 27 Oct 1818 in Madison Co., KY; died on 20 Aug 1882 in Dale Twp., McLean Co., IL; was buried in Bloomington, McLean Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Find-A-Grave shows William Eli Park’s spouse to be Mary E. Park (1851-1904), with a son William with unknown birth date, but who died in 1969 in California. It seems this entire family moved to California.

All earlier information confirms William Eli as a son of Jonathan Park. But William Eli’s obit reports his mother not as Lillian Stroud, but rather, Mary E. Park, and his father as William H. Park. So more research needs to be done to find the correct connections. It is possible that Lillian was a first wife (she died at age 25), but that doesn’t account for the William H. Park as father.

Or, could William Park who died in 1969 and Lillian Stroud be Homer William Park’s parents, since left as is, William Eli was an unlikely 70 years old when Homer William was born.

Buried:
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park

Family/Spouse: Mary E. Park. Mary was born in 1851; died in 1904 in CA; was buried in Colma, San Mateo Co., CA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Obit: Pantagraph, The (Bloomington, IL) - Sunday, December 21, 1997

Homer William Park, 73, of Normal, died at 7:15 a.m. Saturday (Dec. 20, 1997) at BroMenn Lifecare Center, Bloomington.

He was born March 28, 1924 in Minonk, a son of William H. and Lillian Stroud Park. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers. He married Myra L. Slagell on Dec. 17, 1950 in Bloomington. She survives.

Also surviving are two sons, W. Bradley (Cheryl) Park and David A. (Colleen) Park; one sister, Nyla (Don) Simpson and six grandchildren.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the Pacific Theater of operations from March 1943 to December 1945, including five campaigns and four landings. 

Buried:
Funks Grove Cemetery

Homer married Myrna Lucille Slagell on 17 Dec 1950 in Bloomington, McLean Co., IL. Myrna (daughter of Roy Anton Slagell and Lavina Grace Roeschley) was born on 21 Dec 1920 in Chenoa, McLean Co., IL; died on 21 Mar 2015 in Normal, McLean Co., IL; was buried on 28 Mar 2015 in McLean, McLean Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]